Poultry picking machine



Jan. 15, 1957 D. PITTS ETAL POULTRY PICKING MACHINE 4 Sheets-Sheet 1Filed Feb. 21, 1955 om Q 000 00 Y5 Z m m P y WM 3 U a v f V- B Jan. 15,1957 R. D. PITTS ET AL 2,777,153

POULTRY PICKING MACHINE Filed Feb. 21, 1955 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VEN TOR.FLfl/R/VO) CORE) z fiaaf/Pr p. P/ 77's Jan. 15, 1957 Filed Feb. 21, 1955R. D. PITTS- ET AL 2,777,158

POULTRY PICKING MACHINE 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Jan. 15, 1957 R. D. PITTS E-TAL2,777,153

POULTRY PICKING MACHINE Filed Feb. 21, 1955 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 IN V ENTOR.

FA aumvoy COREY United States Patent- 2 77 1 5, PQULIRK-PICKINGMACHWE.

gld liitts a d. lt umor. Corey, C d r ap ds,

rs .0 lfic kwiclg Company, Cedar Rapids, tstissst ue A licatiouEebruary21,. 1.9 5;.Serial NQ- 4 2,,4

This invention relates to. poultry. processing equipment and hasiparticulartrelation to a new andt'novel defeathering' machine; i

In poultry defeathering or picking machines known to the art'git iscustornary to employ a drum with substantiallyradially projectingfingers and to rotatethis drum arid-apply the birds to the-fingers toremove the feathers.

ln other'words only one set 'of rotating fingers is'eniplo'y'edatany onetime.

It is one of the objects of our invention, however, to employ astationary set of fingers orrubbing rnemb er's as Welles a rotating setof rubbing members; and; toso organize the members and position the birdthat both the stationary androtating rubbing members are'efiective inr'enioving'thefeathers.

Another-primary object of our invention is to provide a me'ans'andrnethodof defeathering poultry in which the birdis moved'and applied tostationary fingers" to effect picking 'fing rmn contact With the body'o'f'ea ch bird; It I alsofpe'rmits a number of birds to be'appliedito'the defeatheringmembers simultaneously. v

Anotnerimportan object of our invention is to provide anew and-novelsystemfof removing feathers in 'which the. rotating membenniay' bemaintainedin rotation andthbirds removed fro'rnthe machine by timed e;

1ess p means';

Ahother object of our invention is to provide 'a new and novel andreleasing mechanism for poultry processing 'equip-ment such 'as poultrypicking machines. "Other and fijrth'er features and objects of thelinvention will be more apparent to those skilled in the art upon aconsideration of the accompanying drawings and following specifications,wherein is disclosed a'sin gle exem' plaryembodirnnt ofthe invention,with the understanding','how'ever, that such changes may be madetherein'as fall" within, the' scopei of the appended claims; withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention In said drawings: I Figure 1illustrates .a poultry defeathering device constructed in accordancewith one embodimentof our inverttion. I i

Figure 2 is a view in vertical section of the, machine shownin Figurel.i V

Figure 3 is a planview of the interior of the..tub of mechanism fortiming the dressing opera; g door atthes tslu pn of e cted-ti e-2,777,158 Patented Jan. 15, 1957 F ur 15 i a. iswsin -f sn't otation Sft-tha am s! n. ndlslfiqs F ure 6.is a. s a i r ia sm-of the e e r uimpl yed for theisont p apparatus-show F ure 5;. u e. s a v w i pesnsstivao the la ch snd la sh actuating and release, mechanism, shown inFigure l, 3 and 5. e R tcr ihsnow t e...- d. awins e par u arly to .Figresl; and: 2, for the; p sen a d v cet t ed according. to a preferred.embodiment of -our. invention includes a cylindrical main .body or tube10, preferably supported ,onnthree legs 11, which-legs are mounted onand; secured to the inner. wall .ofthe cylinder,- and whichflare,slightly.outwardly, as; illustrated,'for bGtIQlKS LlPr port of thelmachine. v

The. legs'..11 rarelattachedtto. apairof rings; 12 and 1,3 which. formreinforcements .for-Ithe. lower portion of the cylinden10;.Threerradiallyrpositioned; support armsat the b'ottomof. the cylinder,asZindicated-at 14, andeat, the topof-thecylinder, as indicated at. 1.6,support the large diameter. tube 17 in which asmaller bearing tube31.8..is located.- Inside vof thistubeoisv a circular. platform or discshaft or drive shaft 19 at the up'perend of which the-disc orcircular-:platforin'.21:.is mounted. A drivepulley. 22 v is alsomdunte'd onttheidrive shaft 19, and this drive pulley 22iisvdriven .bymeans of the. pulleyl23 of the drivdisc as itis rotated.

slot 3'4pe'rmits feather-sand water etc; to escapefrom the The disc is'p'rovided with- 'a plurality of vertical or upwardly projecting rubbing-members which may take the'f'orrn of-the fingers 3'tifor may be intheform of flanged paddlesor the 'like' which will rub the bird andthr'ovifli't-- outwardly ag'ainst'the stationary'fingers 41, 42

' and 43 by'c mrimga1- force "#Theseinwardly projecting rubbing or fowlengaging members 41, 42 and 45 are provided on the inside of the upperportionof the 'cylinder and thesev rubbing 'me1nbers also furnishrubbing ta'nd picking action to'the-bi'rds deposit'd'within thecylihder. For simplicity; fewer statioiiarvfingers'are shown than mayactually be used; It is alsjo 'to be noted that in the embodimentshownfthe top row of fingers'43 are largenthan the other fingers of thenshi the machineshown in Figure 1, with the door'in opened relation orthe supporting legs and themotor mounting We preferably providemeans fordirecting a water spraythrou gh the center of thejmachine and down thewallsjas illustrated at, and-water for this ring reaches theringthrough'the hoseconhection 46. i

The upp'ennq of thefmachihe preferably is covered by means oftheahuularlmember shell 47 which has an opening 4 thereinat theceriterthereofl-and which pref erably' slopes in'wardlyto thecehterasvillustrated in order to direct the hirdsland the water from them intothe ma- Chine. w

The birds may beremoved f rom the machine. from h t by h dz r by, n 'sua $m j tw preferably provide a curveddoo'r, illustratedat :51, for isjjrbsa Thi co i g d s. at: 52, n is latghed "ih. closed: qsm ri by means"of a latch: 53, A

spring 52a is provided to urge the door intoa'normally open position.This door may be opened or unlatched manually or may be controlled by atiming mechanism to open automatically after a timed interval, as willbe described later. t

We preferably provide a chute, such as illustrated at 43, and this chutemay have a retarder plate, illustrated at 56, for retarding dischargemovement of the birds from the chute. It is also provided with a bumper,as illustrated at 57, so that when the door swings open, the movement ofthe door is checked by the bumper.

The latch mechanism is better shown in FiguresS, 6

and 7 and is partially contained in a water-proof box' 70. The mechanismincludes a vertically movable bar 71 which is guided by means of twoguide plates 72' and 73 which have openings therethrough to permit therod to slide up and down therein, and the rod is provided with a slopingfront face, as illustrated at 74, so that when the latch bar 76 slidesinto the recess afforded by the striker plate 77, and the guide 73, theholding bar will be lifted. The latch bar pushes the holding bar 71 upuntil the latch bar is in engaged position and the holding bar 71thereupon drops behind the latch bar to hold the door closed. The member78 is a knob attached to the end of the latch bar 76. It should be herenoted that, during automatic operation, the sloping front face 74 has nofunction, since the holding bar is normally up when the door is closed.

The holding bar 71 may be raised by the solenoid 79 and actuation ofthis solenoid is accomplished by means of the timer, illustrated at 81,which is a single cycle automatic-reset interval timer; other timingdevices might be used. When the selected interval of time has expired, acontact is closed within the timer in accordance with the constructionof such well known devices, and the electrical circuit is completedthrough the solenoid 79 to raise the holding bar 71 and thus release thedoor. The door is spring loaded, as illustrated at 52a, so that itimmediately swings outwardly and the centrifugal motion of the birdscauses themto be discharged through the door and into the chute 54.

The switch 82 serves to disconnect the entire control circuit from thepower supply when the device is not in operation, and the signal light83, indicates whether or not the circuit is operative. To recycle thetimer for repetitive, we have provided a plunger actuated switch 84. Aspring loaded right angle lever 85 is positioned in the control boxadjacent this switch. Extending downwardly from this lever is a rod 86which includes an outwardly extending car 87. When the door is closed,the car 87 is struck by the latch bar 76, which turns the rod and lever85, closing the switch and thereby recycling the timer 81.

In operation, the birds are scalded in any well known manner and thedoor of the picker is closed. This actu-.

ates the timing mechanism 81 which is set for any desired number ofseconds of operation. During the timed operating period, the solenoid isde-energized and the holding bar 71 is dropped, which latches the doorin its closed position.

After a lapse say of l8 seconds, or any selectedtime interval, theactuating circuit of the timer 81 will be closed to energize thesolenoid 79, and the solenoid 79 will raise' the holding bar 71 to itsupper position, releasing the latch bar 76 and permitting the door toswing open.

In operating the machine, as soon as the door has been closed, thescalded birdsare immediately dropped, one or several at a time,according to the capacity of the machine,,into the interior. ofthe'machine. The rotating rubbing members will impart a spinning motionto the birds which will, by centrifugal force, throw and'force the birdstoward theouter periphery of the spinning member and against theinwardly projecting stationary rubbing members. The spinning motionimparted by the upwardly projecting rubbing members also causes thebirds to be carried around insidethe device, during which action theradially projecting or stationary rubbing members also rub the birds asthey tend to be carried around by the bottom rubbing members. The resultis that the free rotation of the birds is prevented, and both sets ofrubbing members are effective to rub all portions of the birds evenlyand remove the feathers.

The feathers are thrown outwardly by centrifugal force and strike theinner wall of the cylinder and are floated down along the wall by theflow of water from the pipe 44, to be discharged on the floor beneaththe machine.

After the birds have beenrotated in this manner a predetermined lengthof time, determined and selected by the operator, the curved door isopened, as previously stated, and the birds are discharged into thechute where they may then fall into a cooling tank or onto a rack or thelike as desired.

The picking action is remarkably complete in a short period of time,and. pin feathers and even wing feathers are removed, almost completelyif not completely. A

much greater picking surface is utilized than in the pickers known inthe art.

Although we have described a specific embodiment of our invention, it isapparent that modifications thereof may be made by those skilled in theart. Such modifications may be made without departing from the spiritand scope of our invention as setlforth in the appended claims.

We claim as our invention:

1. A poultry picking machine comprising a stationary cylindrical casing,a rotatable disc adjacent one ,end of said cylindrical casing, a shaftoperatively connected to said disc for supporting and rotating the same,a plurality of resilient picking fingers extending inwardly from a majorportion of the interior surface of said cylindrical casing and aplurality of resilient picking fingers extending from a major portion ofsaid disc toward the interior of said cylindrical casing, wherebyfeathered poultry placed in said machine is simultaneously, continuouslyrotated and defeathered by said resilient picking fingers.

2. A poultry picking machine comprising a stationary vertically disposedcylindrical casing having the upper end thereof open to receivefeathered poultry, a horizontally disposed rotatable circular platformadjacent the lower end of said cylindrical casing, circular platformsupporting and rotating means operatively connected to said circularplatform for supporting and rotating the same, a plurality of resilientelongated poultry engaging members extending inwardly from a majorportion of the lower portion of the interior surface of said cylindricalcasing, said cylindrical casing-supported resilient poultry engagingmembers being adapted to rotate the poultry about the axes thereof, anda plurality of resilient picking fingers extending from a major portionof said circular platform adjacent the periphery thereof toward theinterior of said cylindrical casing, said last-named resilient fingersbeing adapted to maintain the poultry in said machine in contact withsaid cylindrical casing-supported resilient poultry engaging members andremove the feathers from said poultry as the same are rotated about theaxes thereof.

3. A poultry picking machine as set forth in claim 2 wherein saidresilient picking fingers consist of thin elongated members, eachterminating at the outer end thereof in a transversely extending surfacebounded by sharp edges.

4. A poultry picking machine as set forth in claim 2 having atransversely extending plate member secured to said cylindrical casingadjacent the upper end thereof for supporting feathered poultry to befed into said picking machine.

5. A poultry pickingrnachine comprising a stationary vertically disposedcasing having the upper end thereof open to receive feathered poultry, ahorizontally disposed rotatable circular platform adjacent the lower endof said casing, circular platform supporting and rotating meansoperatively connected to said circular platform for supporting androtating the same, a plurality of resilient elongated poultry engagingmembers extending inwardly from a major portion of the lower portion ofthe interior surface of said casing, said poultry engaging members beingadapted to rotate the poultry about the axes thereof, a plurality ofresilient picking fingers extending from a major portion of saidcircular platform adjacent the periphery thereof toward the interior ofsaid casing, said casing having an opening in the side thereof extendingupwardly from a point adjacent said resilient picking fingers, a closurefor said side opening operable to permit defeathered poultry to beejected by said resilient picking fingers through said opening,resilient means operably connected to said closure for normallymaintaining the same in an opened position, movable latch means forretaining said closure in a closed position, and time responsive meansoperably connected to said latch means for moving said latch means torelease said closure and permit said resilient means to open the same.

6. A poultry picking machine comprising a stationary vertically disposedcylindrical casing having the upper end thereof open to receivefeathered poultry, a horizontally disposed rotatable disc adjacent thelower end of said cylindrical casing, disc rotating means operativelyconnected to said disc for supporting and rotating the same, a pluralityof resilient picking fingers extending inwardly from a major portion ofthe lower portion of the interior surface of said cylindrical casing,said cylindrical casingsupported resilient fingers being adapted torotate the poultry about the axes thereof, a plurality of resilientpicking fingers extending from a major portion of said disc adjacent theperiphery thereof toward the interior of said cylindrical casing, saidlast-named resilient fingers being adapted to maintain the poultry insaid machine in w t ct h a d y nd c l casi g-s pp ted e lien fingers andremove the feathers from said poultry as the same is rotated about theaxes thereof, said cylindrical casing having an opening in the sidethereof extending upwardly from a point adjacent the upper ends of saiddisc-supported resilient fingers, and a closure on said cylindricalcasing for said side opening therein operable to permit defeatheredpoultry to be ejected through said opening.

7. A poultry picking machine as set forth in claim 6 having resilientmeans operatively connected to said closure for normally maintainingsaid closure in an open position, movable latch means for retaining saidclosure in a closed position and time responsive means operativelyconnected to said latch means for moving said latch means to releasesaid closure and permit said resilient means to open the same.

8. A poultry picking machine as set forth in claim 6 having a chuteextending outwardly from the exterior of said cylindrical casing at theside opening therein for receiving defeathered poultry ejected throughsaid opening and a retarding gate extending across said chute forretaining defeathered poultry therein, said gate being pivotallyconnected to said chute to permit the removal of defeathered poultryfrom said chute.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS686,576 Blache Nov. 12, 1901 859,842 Robinson July 9, 1907 2,472,468Digby June 7, 1949 2,523,302 Hunt Sept. 26, 1950 2,596,443 Sharp May 13,1952 2,603,831 Sharp July 22, 1952

